Visual rendering of graphs is a key task in the mapping of complex network
data. Although most graph drawing algorithms emphasize aesthetic appeal,
certain applications such as travel-time maps place more importance on
visualization of structural network properties. The present paper advocates two
graph embedding approaches with centrality considerations to comply with node
hierarchy. The problem is formulated first as one of constrained
multi-dimensional scaling (MDS), and it is solved via block coordinate descent
iterations with successive approximations and guaranteed convergence to a KKT
point. In addition, a regularization term enforcing graph smoothness is
incorporated with the goal of reducing edge crossings. A second approach
leverages the locally-linear embedding (LLE) algorithm which assumes that the
graph encodes data sampled from a low-dimensional manifold. Closed-form
solutions to the resulting centrality-constrained optimization problems are
determined yielding meaningful embeddings. Experimental results demonstrate the
efficacy of both approaches, especially for visualizing large networks on the
order of thousands of nodes.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphic